August wraps up with periods of heavy rain, flood threat

1-3″ of rain is likely in parts of the area Monday

Estimated rain totals for Monday

ROANOKE, Va. – Following a picture perfect Sunday, the picture for Monday isn’t as great. A Flood Watch is in effect for most of the region, starting at 8 a.m..

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MONDAY

The same high pressure system that kept us comfortable Sunday will work against us. As low pressure sends moisture over a front and into our area, high pressure keeps us cool and keeps that pattern locked in throughout the day. Highs will only be in the 70s, as periods of rain move through.

Pattern is notorious for giving us periods of heavy rain

Expect these periods of heavy rain to begin Monday morning near and west of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Heavy rain will continue to ride up the Parkway and areas just east of that through the afternoon. Make sure to keep lunch indoors, as flooding may start to occur near creeks and streams.

FutureTracker - Noon Monday

Depending on how warm we get, we could see a severe storm or two. There’s some rotation in the atmosphere, so the threat for a brief and weak tornado is low but not zero.

Rain may turn a little more scattered at times during the afternoon. Where it does fall, however, it will still be quite heavy.

FutureTracker - 4 p.m. Monday

From Monday morning to Tuesday morning, we expect a widespread 1-3″ of rain for those under the Flood Watch. The exception to that will be parts of the New River Valley and Southside. This amount of rain will cause flooding, especially of creeks, streams and low-lying areas. This may lead to a few road closures and/or basement flooding for those in prone areas.

Impact tracker for Monday

Make sure to download our weather app for the latest radar and alerts.

REST OF THE WEEK

Our front lingers nearby, keeping fog and showers around Tuesday morning. As the front lifts Wednesday, we’ll heat back up with only spotty afternoon storms around. Another front moves in from the west, but it won’t have as much moisture with it. Therefore, we’ll keep it hot and humid with spotty afternoon storms Thursday and Friday.

Temperature trend each afternoon this week

Once the front passes south and east, temperature come down a touch in time for the Labor Day weekend.

TROPICS

As is usually the case this time of year, the tropics remain very active. There’s no immediate threat, however, to the U.S. just yet. The National Hurricane Center is monitoring four areas of development.

Odds of tropical development over the next two to five days

If all four were to get names, they would be Nana, Omar, Paulette and Rene.

List of names for the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season

We’ll keep you posted on each storm’s progress throughout the next few days.


About the Author

Meteorologist Chris Michaels is an American Meteorological Society (AMS) Certified Broadcaster, forecasting weather conditions in southwest Virginia on WSLS 10 News from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays on Virginia Today.

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